Means for promoting combustion and economizing in fuel consumption



Oct. 13, 1925. 1,556,705

' R; A. MELVIN MEANS FOR PROMOTING COMBUSTION AND ECONOMIZING IN FUEL CONSUMPTION Filed March 18, 1922 I 2 Shegts-Sheet 1 F' Z. r 1/9 Roland AJ lelvin INV ENTOR w ami WITNESS! Oct. 13, 1925- 1,556,705

R; A. MELVIN MEANS FOR PROMOTING COMBUSTION AND ECONOMIZING' IN FUEL CONSUMPTION Filed March 1 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 lay a:

l i I 13 34- 8 I 33 i 41 x; 44 I as f Q T as as 39 Roland A. Mq kg i n figs: I I av Patented Oct. 13, 1925.

"UNITED STATES 1,556,705- PATENT O FICE.

ROLAND n. MELVIN, or WILMINGTON,- DELAWARE.

MEANsron PROMOTING COMBUSTION AND ECONOMIZING IN FUEL ooNsoMrrioN.

Application filed March 18,1922 Serial o. 544,874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROLAND A. MEL IN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wilmington; in the county of New Castle and State of Delaware, have invented new and'usefullmprovements in Means for Promotin'g Combustion and Economizing in Fuel Consumption, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to. means for promoting combustion and economizing in fuel consumption and it. has more particular reference to what may bemore, correctly defined as a novel means for effecting the consumption of the unburnt products of combustion arising from'la bed of burning fuel and ordinarily carried away as more or less dense smoke. 'As' a concrete instance it is well'known locomotive and Others boilers when in operation are exceedingly wasteful in. the consumption of" carbonaceous fuel little moreithan one-third of the actual products of combustion caused by the burning fuel being thoroughly utilized while the re- 'mainder isc-arried "away as waste with the smoke. I

Now the primary object of my'invention is! to provide a novelnieans whereby a great economy in fuelconsumption is effected by the thorough burningup of all gases and carbon thatfnormally escapesio-ut of' the smoke stack to the atmosphere.

A further object of my invention is to provide'a novel means whereby a locomotive or other firebox is furnished with a constant draft instead of an intermittent one whereby choked fines are eliminated with a conse- "quential increased combustion and resultant higher degree of superheated steam.

' A stillfurther object attained by my invention' is the elimination of back pressure in f engine cylinders of locomotives by not using any exhaust steam ton-produce draft in the firebox and. exhausting the same direst. to the atmosphere by means. of pipes.

tofthe top of the boiler and thereby raising the steam to, a height that will not obstruct the View of the engine crew.

'Another object attained-by my invention is the elimination of'all possibility for hot air and gases being drawn into a locomotive or other engine cylinders which destroy lubrication and causes carbonizingof the piston packings with a consequential deteriorating effect. 7 V p s r. I

With theforegoing' and other ob ects. in

view as will be more apparent from the followmg descriptlon, my invention essentially consists 1n the novel constructional features,

combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter fully described and more specifically defined by the appended claim.

In the :further disclosure of the invention reference is tozbe had to the accompanying Figure 3-is an enlarged crosssectional' elevation of one of the pipes with a steam blower insert therein. I

Figure 4is=a sectional elevation illustrati'veof th application of my invention to a stationary boiler ofthe return tube 1 type and,

' Figure 5-is a front end elevationofthe.

same.

Referringmore 'articularly to the views and specificallyto, igures 1 to 3. inclusive of the accompanying drawings the numeral 6 indicates by dotted outline a locomotive of the Decapod type, 7 the firebox and S t-he ashbox therefor, said parts forming no part of this invention and being merely referredto for a clearer understandingfof my novel means for promoting combustion and economizing in fuel consumption.

According. to this invention I mou-nt longitudinally of andabove the'locomotive 6 one or morepipesQ of substantial diameter; said pipe orpipes 9 entering a stack 10 at the forward part of" the-locomotive, and said stack entering. the, smoke box 11 for about one-third to one-half of the latters diameter. Or, in other words, the lower end of said stack 10 extends into the'smoke box 11 from the upper. part thereof and iti is.- -or may be-slightly flared at its'lower end 12 as shown in Figure 1. I

Securely fitted into the lower part of the aforesaid stack 10 is a. bushing or collar 13 the inner diameter whereof is of. a dimension to-restrict the outletfrom: and aid in increasing the induced draft through the" firebox 7, smoke tubes 14 and smoke box 11. Seated upon the aforesaid bushing or collar 13 is an annular coil or pipe 15 having perforations 16 about its inner peripheral surface. This annular coil or pipe 15 serves in use as a steam blower in that it is connected in any appropriate manner with a source of live steam on the locomotive whereby a constant draft is maintained.

Appropriately mounted in the stack 10 above the steam blower 15 is a fan or turbine blower 17 conveniently driven in any of the well known ways by an electric or other motor 18 mounted on the top of the boiler 19. The stack 10 is upwardly extended above the pipe 9 and it is provided with butterfly dampers 20, 21 for purposes later on explained. The rear or cab end of the longitudinal pipe 9 is elbowed at 22 into the upper front of the firebox 7 and it is also provided adjacent said elbow portion 22 with a short stack or atmospheric outlet 23 under the control of a butterfly damper 24. Extending obliquely downwards from the underside of the longitudinal pipe 9 1 provide one or more pipes 25 that connect into the ashbox. 8, said pipe or pipes 25 being under the control of butterfly dampers 26. 27 28 are also butterfly dampers respectively fitted in the pipe 9 to the rear of the inlet end of the pipe or pipes 25, and near the outlet end of the elbow portion 22 where it enters the firebox 7. The steam blower 15 may have communication through the branch pipe 15 with the steam chest of the locomotive.

In order to carry away the exhaust steam from the cylinders 29 1 preferably employ a saddle pipe 30 seating over the smoke box 11 and having an atmospheric outlet 31 whereby said exhaust steam is not permitted to commingle with the products of combustion or smoke as is the prevailing practice at present.

Referring now more specifically to Figures 4 and 5 which illustrate the application of my invention to a stationary boiler 32 having three fireboxes 33, it will be noted that I provide each said firebox with a vertical pipe 34 of elbowed formation, the centre one being upwardly extended at 35 to vprovide an atmospheric outlet under the control of a damper 36 whereas the side pipes 34 are elbowed into the centre one at their upper ends, and each of said pipes 34 is provided with a control damper 37. Extending downwardly from the atmospheric outlet 35 in the rear of the centre pipe 34 is a main pipe 38 in which is fitted the aforementioned bushing or collar 13, steam blower 15, and

fan or turbine blower 17, the latter being scribed.

operated by a motor 18 as hereinbefore dey The connections from the lower ends of the elbowed pipes into the ashboxes are designated by the numeral 39,

under normal conditions the locomotive installation is operated as follows :The fan or turbine blower 17 is "set in motion and live steam turned on to the steam blower 15 whilst the dampers 20, 24 and 26 are closed, and the dampers 21, 27 and 28 are opened. Thus it will be easily understood that a constant draft is established from the smoke box 11 to the firebox 7 through the main pipe 9 and elbowed end or ends 22 whereby the unburnt products of combustion passing through the smoke tubes 14 will be circulated back to the bed of burning fuel with a requisite amount of live steam and be thoroughly burnt up or consumed without 7 is too great a production of carbon dioxide the engineer or fireman willopen the dampers 20, 24 for a few seconds which will allow the accumulation of said gas to promptly escape.

Still further it is to be noted that when the device is to be run under natural'draft the damper 21 may be closed and the damper 20 opened.

From the foregoing description the operation of the various dampers with respect to the modified form illustrated by Figures 4 and 5 will be clearly understood without further explanation or description, and whilst I have described and shown preferred embodiments of my, invention the right is hereby reserved to make such changes and modifications as fairly lie within the scope of the appended claim. 7

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

The combination with a boiler structure including a fire-box, ash box, smoke box, and a smoke outlet stack for atmospherical communication, a branch pipe communicating with said outlet stack and having communi- .the other hand, when it is found that there 7 cation with the interior of said fire-box, a and one in said stack and other valves arsecond branch pipe formed on said first ranged in said first named branch pipe named branch ipe and having communicawhereby either the second mentioned or tion with said ash box, a relatively short r l ively short branch pipe may be cut off branch pipe having communication with said m actlve communlcatlon Wlth h l first named branch pipe and havin atmos- P Q the first named branch P PE- pherical communi atio d v Veg In testimony whereof I aflix my signature. ranged one in each of said branch pipes ROLAND A. MELVIN. 

